The Kansas City Chiefs are having an impressive season thus far, at 11-1, after defeating the Las Vegas Raiders on Black Friday to clinch a 10th straight playoff berth. Despite that, it’s no secret team’s biggest Achilles’ heel right now is at the left tackle spot.
Through 12 games, the Chiefs looked to rookie Kingsley Suamataia and second-year vet Wanya Morris to protect Patrick Mahomes’ blind side. Neither has done their job adequately this season, and their quarterback has been sacked 32 times – the most in his career – as a result.
In Friday’s game against the Raiders, Wanya Morris was so bad that head coach Andy Reid had to step in and move left guard Joe Thuney to left tackle and plugin backup Mike Caliendo at left guard. On Monday, Reid was asked during his weekly press conference to give his thoughts on what’s wrong with the tackle for Kansas City.
“Listen, we’ve got young guys working in there,” He began. “So the growth – they’re going against good players, and the best ones have gotten the better of us. It’s things that these guys will learn from, and they can bank for the future and get themselves better, and I think that will help us down the road. So, that’s what I would tell you.”
Wanya Morris became the starter after Suamataia struggled in the second game of the season. Except he hasn’t been much better as the year has gone on. Reid told reporters that Morris’ struggles stem from a mixture of mistakes both physically and mentally.
“Listen, sometimes things snowball on you,” he explained. “I mean, it’s a little bit of everything that’ll get you. [Wanya Morris] started off pretty good, and then it kind of went from there [and] that happens with young guys.
Through 12 games, Wanya Morris is tied 6th in pressures allowed (33) and right tackle Jawaan Taylor is tied 6th in sacks allowed (7), among all offensive linemen per Pro Football Focus.
“Nobody wants that to happen that way, but sometimes it happens, and then you kind of get frozen in your own feet there and don’t know what to do exactly. It’s a great learning experience for him; I would expect him to do that – whatever direction this thing goes, I would expect him to do that. He’s a good kid, and he works hard. I’d tell you the same thing with Kingsley [Suamataia]. Both of them have gotten some valuable experience this year and we’ll continue to hope that they learn from all that.”
The Chiefs added some insurance to the offensive line on November 22 when they signed former Arizona Cardinals all-pro left tackle D.J. Humphries. After nearly 2 weeks with the team, fans are clamoring for Humphries to be inserted into the lineup. Reid, however, says he doesn’t want to throw him into the fire too quickly.
“Listen, last week was a short week, so we didn’t have a whole lot of time to work on the fast part of the game practices. This week, I’ll have a better idea as we go, and he’ll have a better idea [of] how he feels. Then, we just go from there. We’ll just see how it all works out.”
The reason Reid is cautious about inserting Humphries into the lineup is because the veteran tackle was just cleared medically to return to the field after being sidelined with knee injuries. Thus, Reid wants to make sure Humphries feels confident enough to play and ensure he won’t reaggravate the knee.
“We’ll work [D.J. Humphries] in and see what he can [do] – see how he feels,” Reid continued. “You know, that’s the main thing. He hasn’t played in a while, so I just want to make sure he’s in good position. He did a nice job last week working in there and we’ll do a little bit more with him this week.”
Since it’s early in the week, Reid told reporters he’s not ready to name a starter at left tackle for when the Chiefs host the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, December 8.
“No, I – listen, I don’t think that’s probably fair to D.J. [Humphries] right now just [with] him coming off this offseason. I think we just play it by ear, as we go,” Reid explained. “If he feels okay, then we give him an opportunity. If it’s not where it needs to be then you don’t. We’ll see how it goes.”
In the event Humphries doesn’t make his Chiefs debut this weekend, Reid said he wasn’t against starting Joe Thuney at LT like last week.
“Well, that’s another one of the options that we’ve got. We finished the game [against the Raiders] that way. I’d rather have Joe [Thuney] playing in at guard because he’s very good there, but [Mike] Caliendo isn’t bad either, so that’s a good problem to have. We’ve got some flexibility there as needed.”
The Chiefs desperately need to fix the spot at left tackle but Reid’s not going to make a hasty decision to quickly. Whoever Reid names as the starter this week, it’ll be in the best interest of the team and the players.
